Rice team to test low-tech solar device in rural Haiti

Sunlight is free but expensive to convert into electricity, so a Rice University-led team is opting for a low-tech approach in its quest to harvest solar energy in undeveloped communities.

“We want to alleviate energy problems in some of the poorest regions of the world, so we’re using low-cost technology to capture the sun’s heat for cooking and other uses,” said team leader Doug Schuler, associate professor of management in Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management.

He is the principal investigator on a seed grant from Rice’s Shell Center for Sustainability that aims to commercialize a technology called “Capteur Soleil”—French for solar capture.

Capteur Soleil is the brainchild of French inventor Jean Boubour, Schuler’s co-investigator on the grant. Boubour invented the device almost 30 years ago after searching in vain for a simple solar technology that would be inexpensive enough for rural Africa.

“Our idea was to find something low-tech, without a motor for tracking the sun,” he said. “It’s designed for a remote place without any electricity.

Boubour and team member Claire Krebs, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, built the prototype in about two weeks. Schuler said Krebs and Boubour plan to build a second prototype this summer to be tested in Nicaragua. The third prototype will stay at the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen for testing by students in Rebecca Richards-Kortum’s bioengineering design course next fall.

Capteur Soleil looks something like an ultramodern lawn swing—a steel A-frame and a bed of curved mirrors slung beneath. The mirrors, which are actually polished aluminum panels, focus sunlight onto a steel pipe at the apex of the frame. Water running through the pipe is converted into steam, which can be used for cooking, making soap or sterilizing medical instruments.

Schuler and Boubour say cooking is the simplest application, and it’s the first they plan to test. While the Capteur Soleil can’t provide enough heat to boil oil for frying, the steam can be used to cook dozens of dishes. The first Capteur Soleil prototype, which was built at the design kitchen in March, is on its way for testing at St. Barthelemy School in Terrier Rouge, Haiti, a 450-student elementary school.

Jade Boyd, Rice News